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The Maghreb region and the Sahel belt have so far been France’s traditional sphere of influence and the promotion of French interests. The military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger between 2020 and 2023, and the loss of influence and reduction of military presence in this part of the African continent, have resulted in an attempt to build a new partnership between France and its former colonies in north-west Africa. As a former colonial power, France still retains significant political and economic interests here in an attempt to regain its former influence and impact. The failure of the policy of normalising relations with Algiers, has brought about a significant turnaround in West Africa, strengthening French relations with Morocco. The aim of this article is to examine France’s position in the mosaic of regional interests and geostrategy towards bilateral relations with Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, and the implications for French diplomacy Russia’s growing influence, China’s strengthening presence and Turkey’s expansive stance the Maghreb.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE FAILURE TO STABILISE THE STATES OF THE SAHEL FOR MAINTAINING FRANCE’S POSITION IN AFRICAAfrica had for centuries provided French diplomacy with advantages through which it could realise its power ambitions. In the 1960s, French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa gained full sovereignty and France faced the dilemma of how to preserve “privileged” ties while avoiding the label of the legacy of colonialism? In the 21st century, a strategic foreign policy objective became the stabilisation of the Sahel – a region crucial to France’s security. This was reflected in the creation of the G5 Sahel in 2014 and Operation Barkhane. However, subsequent coups in Mali (2020), Burkina Faso (2022) and Niger (2023), with the support of foreign powers, led to the loss of French influence in its traditional sphere of influence.

France occupies a key position in Europe’s defence and security structures and the promotion of a ‘Europe of defence’ has been one of the political priorities of French leaders since the late 1990s. One of the key initiatives strengthening multilateral military cooperation in the EU is the European Intervention Initiative (EI2), which aims to instil a French strategic culture among Europeans. The aim of the study is to show that France is ‘shifting’ its power ambitions to Europe, which is to become a significant actor in international relations, equipped with mechanisms of political representation and credible military forces, enabling it to conduct a global-scale independent policy. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the strengthening of ‘European strategic autonomy’ serves to preserve a multipolar world, in which France will play the role of Europe’s ‘leader,’ and is expected to be conductive to the development of defence industry cooperation.

The research objective of the article is to identify French interests towards EUsystemic reform, which constitutes a specific ‘lever’ of France’s European policy. The first part of the analysis presents President E. Macron’s key EU reform pro-posals and France’s European policy priorities including the concept of Europeansovereignty as a method of building a ‘Europe of power’. The second part analyzes to what extent the Franco-German duo is driving change in the Europeanpolitical and institutional order. The results showed that the two states derivemultifaceted and different benefits from their mutual cooperation, influencingEuropean and global politics more broadly. The article tries to explain, based onthe theory of liberal intergovernmentalism, how France uses the EU to promoteits own national interests.

The crisis of multilateralism and the growing strategic and military rivalry be-tween superpowers is changing the stability and balance of forces in the world.The war in Ukraine has put nuclear weapons and their role in Europe’s defenceback at the centre of the security debate. To maintain its international positionand effectively protect its interests, France cannot afford to weaken its main as-set – nuclear deterrence forces. That is why President Emmanuel Macron hasannounced the maintenance of strategic autonomy and has also offered dialoguefor a greater role and participation of Europeans in common defence. The arti-cle focuses on France as a case study and examines the motivations of the Frenchauthorities to formulate a strong push for the Europeanisation of nuclear deter-rence based on French capabilities. The employment of historical and compara-tive methodology, comprising the analysis of document content, statements andofficial reports, augmented by interviews with experts and key policymakers, haspermitted the tracing of the evolution of the French nuclear deterrent. This pro-vides a research context for President Emmanuel Macron’s current policy and hisproposals relating to the role of French nuclear deterrence in Europe. The aim ofthis study is to analyse and explain the role of French nuclear deterrence forcesin creating a nuclear deterrent at a European level and promoting a nuclear cul-ture among European allies. This article, which explores how the French nucle-ar strategy is shaped by historical circumstances and current geopolitical needs,makes a threefold contribution to the literature: firstly, it discusses the historicalbackground to the development of the French doctrine of nuclear deterrence;secondly, it presents the main principles of the French nuclear deterrent; andthirdly, it demonstrates that France is not in a position to rapidly provide and extended nuclear deterrent for Europe but can make a significant contributionto the collective security of European Union states.

THE TAIWANESE-CHINESE FACTOR IN FRANCE’S STRATEGY AND POLICY TOWARDS THE INDO-PACIFIC The aim of this article is to provide a synthetic overview of France’s involvement into the Indo-Pacific region, in the context of the protection of important national interests related to the possession of overseas territories. This article analyses impact of the French-Chinese bilateral cooperation on relations with Taiwan. The author points out that France has recognized the government of the PRC as the only representative of China since 1964 and does not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, emphasizing that this is a permanent position, initiated by General de Gaulle, and cooperation between Paris and Taipei is developed in accordance with the “one China policy.” The second aspect of the analysis of France’s policy and strategy towards the Indo-Pacific region was embedded in the broader framework of political, economic relations and military alliances with Asian countries as an element of promoting a multipolar order and stopping Chinese expansionism in the Indo-Pacific area and strengthening its own geopolitical position against the background of China’s rivalry with United States.

The article is an attempt to explain the IAEA’s critical role in ensuring global nuclear safety and on the global nuclear governance system. The objective of the Agency’s operation is promotion of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, including the use of energy to produce electricity, along with establishment of a system of safeguards to ensure that the countries do not use the peaceful assistance for military purposes.The aim of the article is to present the principles of the internationalsystem of nuclear safeguards and the role of the IAEA in maintaining nuclear peace and nuclear challenges of non-proliferation regime reform. The duality of nuclear technology (dual use) causes the need of strengthening the competence-control and institutional resources of the IAEA. It is necessary to oblige the Member States to cooperate with the Agency’s inspectors. The Agency should also develop a procedure to standardize the rules, structure, and legal restrictions. In addition the UN Security Council should react faster in the case of non-compliance detection. A separate issue is the internationalization of the fuel cycle.

The reform of the nuclear safeguards and verification of nuclear materials as a condition of nuclear safety in the 21 Century The condition of maintaining nuclear safety in the twentieth century is to ensure a global system of nuclear materials safeguards. In practice, this means the need for a global system of verification of compliance with non‑proliferation requirements equipped with mechanisms of international control, accounting and physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities, as means of preventing the usage of nuclear dual‑use technology for non‑peaceful purposes (construction of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices). The track record of non‑proliferation regime discovered the weakness of the nuclear safeguards and verification system, in particular, limits of the IAEA control functions. Maintaining the “Nuclear Peace” can be assured only by a global system of physical protection, accounting, and security of nuclear materials, which means the need to improve the internationally comprehensive system of verification of compliance with non‑proliferation. The aim of the article is to present the principles of the international system of nuclear safeguards and the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in maintaining nuclear peace and nuclear challenges of non‑proliferation regime reform. The analysis leads, among others, to the conclusion that the Agency should develop a procedure to standardize the rules, structure, and terminology of reporting non‑compliance, promote the internationalization of the fuel cycle while the UN Security Council should react faster in the case of non‑compliance detection.

Participation of the European Parliament in the process of energy sector communitarization and providing assurance of Community energy security is enormous due to its position and its legitimacy in European institutions structure. European Parliament – through its participation in the development of energy acquis communautaire, under the ordinary legislative procedure – is a full‑fledged entity responsible for the shape of EU’s legal order, and the views of MPs interact indirectly on EU law and policies final version. Using indirect legislative initiative, the European Parliament has become also an active creator providing the mandate of EC political initiatives. Consequently, the European Parliament has played an important role at the supranational level in the energy sector communitarization, often acting as a political forum facilitating building of compromises, necessary to deepen the EU’s energy policy. It also actively participates in the development of EU energy and climate policy.

Nuclear power towards the challenges of climate change in the 21 Century Climate change force to re‑evaluate the current model of the global energy system, based in majority on intensive use of fossil fuels. Reducing their share in the energy balance of the world economy and the promotion of low‑carbon technologies in practice favors low CO2 emission technologies. A special role in the transformation of energy from fossil fuels to the sources low emission energy sources can play a nuclear power – the most efficient energy source available nowadays. The article attempts to answer the question whether nuclear power is a source of “clean energy” and to what extent this technology has the opportunity to make an important contribution to a real reduction of world greenhouse gas emissions in the near future.